Au Pair: Simone Staudenmann from Switzerland

Host Family: Liebold Family in California

My husband, a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy, is now on his second deployment in 18 months. The spouse of a deployed military member, like me, can be, for all effects and purposes, a single parent. My daughter, Honor, and son, Orson are now 27 months old, and their father has been gone for much of their life. We chose to get an au pair because we knew that having another adult at home we be very helpful during these deployments, we just never knew how helpful it would really be. We could never have imagined just how qualified our au pair would really be, and just how dedicated to our children she would become. Our au pair Simone Staudenmann, one of last year’s Au Pair of the Year finalists, is almost another mother to my children. Despite rocky circumstances this year, they are thriving and I feel it has a great deal to do with the EXCEPTIONAL childcare they have and the consistent love of an additional family member. Simone always, always puts my children’s needs and well-being first. Having seen it time and time again, I know we are the luckiest family in the world to have her in our lives. Simone worked in a medical field in Switzerland before joining our family in May 2010. She has always been comfortable handling small bumps and bruises, as well as the mild fevers, colds, and teething complaints that young children often have. This is why I was so scared, last April, when Simone frantically called me at work to tell me that my daughter, who’d been a little sick that morning, wouldn’t wake up from her nap and her fever had spiked to 104 degrees! We rushed my daughter to the hospital, and she was admitted. Simone and my son stayed with us at the emergency room until 11:00 that night. When it became clear that Honor would need to stay overnight, Simone volunteered to take Orson home and care for him, even though she’d been working since 8:00 AM. Blood work at the hospital revealed that Honor had a staph infection and would need to be treated with intravenous antibiotics in the hospital for several days. Because of her young age, a parent needed to stay with her. Because my extended family does not live in San Diego, I went into frantic planning mode trying to figure out which one of my relatives I could fly down to San Diego to help care for Orson while Honor and I stayed at the hospital. When I called Simone and told her that it would probably be that night before I could get my mother down to help, she said “You can fly your mother down if you want, but Orson is already stressed and confused because you and Honor aren’t here and he doesn’t understand why. Bringing in a person he doesn’t know to take care of him at this time will only stress him out further. I will not leave his side until you guys are back from the hospital.” Her primary concern at a moment like that was not her schedule, or the fact that she’d just worked two days straight, but the well-being of my children. This is an act of dedication that still puts me in a state of awe. This moment exemplifies Simone’s dedication, but is in no way an isolated event. In June, Orson who had not begun to speak by 20 months was provisionally diagnosed with autism. I was worried sick and we were all thrust into a grueling schedule of therapies and interventions. Simone has taken an active interest in Orson’s therapy, teaching herself some sign language and extending lessons from his speech and behavioral therapy into his non-therapy time. All of the people working with Orson have been wonderful. I believe, however, it is in no small part due to Simone’s persistence and dedication to helping my son to communicate that he had gone from saying no words and signing no words, to being able to say and sign HUNDREDS of words and phrases in just seven months. He can even say a few phrases in German now! Just this week, his speech therapist told me she is interested in moving him into a more advanced therapy group. While we don’t know what the future will hold, we are hopeful that Orson’s next psychological evaluation will show that he is no longer on the Autism spectrum. Simone’s time with our family has not just been a wonderful experience for our family, but I firmly believe it has shaped my children for a lifetime. I know that they are happier, healthier, more social, and more communicative because they have had Simone in their life. She will always be part of our family and is, by any measure I can think of, the best au pair in the world. She is the kindest, more considerate, most loving, most flexible, most dedicated person I know. I urge you to recognize her talent and dedication in the way we have. She really is one of a kind.